… And it’s glorious fun. From the get-go of the story it is a battle royale between Dracula, The Wolfman, and Frankenstein’s Monster. They kill each other. Lawrence Talbot (the Wolfman) survives and goes back to London. Mayra, Dracula’s daughter, views this and plots world domination- I think she has daddy issues. The three most famous monsters in movie history are then brought back for another battle. I liked the heroes:

Steve Soto: an American gangster on business on the island of Magdalena. He’s strong and smart and once weird things begin to happen he takes the correct arms.

Dorian: a beautiful young woman who lives with her “uncle” in the high class society.

The Zombies: they aren’t particularly evil, they’re just doing their job (eating brains) and are featured in one of most chaotic- read, fun- sections of the story. Their role is larger than I had imagined when first reading it, but I’m not complaining.

Wilfred Glendon III: he takes the role of the Wolfman from his grandfather after Lawrence Talbot is shot and killed. He’s a good man, a scientist, finally introduced in the second half with a powerful psychological role and history that was thrilling to read.

Poor man, even with all that fur he couldn't stay warm.

The villains were fun too.Countess Mayra Zaleska: woo-boy, this lady is evil in its purest form. The scenes revolving around her are usually always bloody or frightening in some sense of the word. Her madness starts slow in the beginning. As it goes on…Major Quantez: asshole, asshole, asshole all the way. There is nothing good about this ruthless warlord who rules the Magdalena islands with a harder-than-iron fist. Dracula: oh man is he back alright; fun all the way. His dialog needed work but he doesn’t speak much. He just kills, and kills some more. I’ll get to him later.Frankenstein’s Monster: he’s only there for a short period (like Dracula and Glendon) but his scenes are impactful. Don’t think he’s the sympathetic beast of Mary Shelley’s story. He plays out more like something Bram Stoker would have created.Frankenstein’s Bride: forthcoming, soon-to-be-revived, but she has a part in one of the most thrilling scenes in the book.

10/10 would bang...

I get to Dracula again because of what he turns into. After dying he turns into a cloud of dust and drinks the blood of Frankenstein, recently gutted by wolves. He becomes an insatiable bloodworm which eats every living thing in its path. David Jacobs (the author) calls it the Drakon which is quite fitting. It is a completely unstoppable creature which sucks people up and digests them. The Drakon is transparent, so you can see everything going on as flesh dissolves and clothes are ruined… David Jacob’s writing style can be a bit repetitive. Words (like blood, or table, or room, for some examples) would be used more than once in the same sentence. He’s devilishly good at setting a scene though. The violence is clear and drew me in. It wasn't obscenely gory but Marya definitely has the dirtiest job. There is some nudity and a little sex, but nothing too graphic. If made into a movie this would still be a very heavy R.

NEVER type bloodworm into your search engine... Oh god

Midway through there a few chapters dedicated to Steve and Marya's characterizations. She’s a bit more sympathetic than she first appears. She does care about the people working for her but she offsets it by ruling them like a dictator- she’ll kill them without hesitation or warning. And whatever you do, do not try to explain science to her! Steve is a likable guy who just wants to get back home until a deal even he can’t resist is made. I cared about Glendon as much as I did the original Wolfman Lawrence Talbot. He didn’t ask for the curse; he just to live with it as best he can. The pace is quick and the dialog- while a bit stunted around Dracula and Mayra (jeez guys, come on, it’s the 21st Century) witty. The Devil's Brood reads off like a pulp novel from the forties and fifties. I can’t really describe it. At only 316 pages long it goes into a lot of detail and history but I never got bored. Again, the pacing and violence is great. The writing itself needs some work. The story had mystery, thrills, genuine characters, and horror. This is the first time a story has really spooked me. That freaking Drakon… The dialog for the more human characters is good but the monsters can’t seem to get out of their respective ages. They dress like they’re in the 1800s too, which in Mayra’s case, is pretty hot. I enjoyed this. I’m moving on to the sequel, The Devil’s Night. **** of *****

Whatever you want out of a superhero/comic movie is in here. And I don’t mean comic in just one since of the word either. It’s absolutely hilarious through the whole thing. I’ve never seen Joss Whedon’s Firefly series or Serenity (although it crossed my mind to do so). Soon I hope to see The Cabin in the Woods. I used to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer… What, it was a good show! What I really know is; he is a great writer.

First off, I want to briefly discuss Thor. I was okay with the first movie but there was something… Not likeable. After seeing The Avengers I’ve grown to like his character more. Thor just seemed a little generic and bland to me in some parts of Thor. His brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) was infinitely more entertaining. It could have been the emotional depth they put to his character.

So lunch is cancelled? I'll try to find a different motive for stabbing you.

They have a lot of character depth for all of the folk in here. Black Widow portrayed by dangerously beautiful actress Scarlett Johansson is one example. In Iron Man 2 she was interesting but nothing was known about her background. Here though, viewers can actually care about her. I had fun knowing who she was (particularly in a brutal psychological assault when face to face with Loki) and seeing her kick way more ass than in her debut.

Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is the same way; he’s in there a little more. Even though it isn’t as much as the others, he’s still brutally efficient. Where do I start on Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury? We all know he’s already a bad-ass and holy crap, he shows it here. Don’t mess with him. And the Hulk, portrayed by a subtle and versatile Mark Ruffalo was great. If you look closely you can see the giant green monster has a five o’ clock shadow. That was funny to me.

Everyone is brilliant. All of them have hilarious lines (especially Captain America trying to get culture references). Even during the action scenes humor is shuffled in to keep you- and I- amazed and in a constant adrenaline rush. The thing is; this action is clear. You can actually see everything happening. It isn’t the stupid close ups where you see a few flying body parts (attached mostly) in blurry movements.

Being a god shouldn't be this hard. Where the fuck is my drink?

Suspense is also riddled in there to foot-bouncing amounts. Joss doesn’t use music to let you know when the suspense is ratcheting. There is a paced burn to allow his actors room to breathe. Loki is the pure embodiment of evil. His army is vast and completely uncaring to the human species. The heroes are naturally easy to spot, no matter how shady they may be.

This is two and a half hours of fun, excitement, crisp dialog too boot. I also loved the setting and special effects.

PS: For gods, Loki and Thor get their asses kicked a lot. Secondly, avoid the 3D version like bubonic plague. I don’t believe in post-production conversions because they never work. Cool? Cool, now go assemble at the theaters as soon as possible.

What are the most frightening monsters? There are a variety of answers for this question. Human monsters of course; they are prevalent in our news. It is the only topic we seem to care about next to celebrities or politics. However that broaches a different topic entirely. Another monster we love: supernatural serial killers hell-bent on seemingly pointless revenge. Now, while Freddy Kruger was evil before and just a serial killer after death… Jason Voorhees is the pointless revenge thriller.

A third class of monsters are the actual ‘creatures’ such as: Alien, werewolves, Predator (maybe), and giant mutated spider thingies.

Who are you calling monster?

None of them beat a fourth class- which includes Jason- the silent killers. Why are they so deadly? You can’t see them coming. That is, until the very last second of your life; when absolutely nothing matters anymore. Nothing… Nothing… Nothing...

Snakes: These like in Boa, Python, Anaconda, and Boa vs. Python only have a limited stance on their stealth. While quiet in a way, they are sort of clumsy. Massive sixty foot snakes are going to knock a few things over on the way to its victim. Rubbing against a tree would just knock it down. On a cliff (if it is above you), tumbling rocks are sort of obvious.

Oh and that hissing doesn’t work out either. If a starving snake is on the run… Well I’m no expert but snakes hiss as a warning. So they’re just telling the humans to go away! Secondly at this part; don’t stop and stare at the glory of a sixty foot snake. Just high-tail your ass out of there!

Hey lady, come closer please! I give new meaning to bear hugs!

Minions: All brilliant, scary villains need these imbeciles as fodder for the good guy. I use them all the time in my stories. They cause problems for the hero, naturally- as was their purpose. One of the major issues is fear. Villains need to set an example on what happens to rats in the organization. In which case when confronted; they would fear their boss more than the hero. Good minions say nothing.

Another case would be the minions simply being incompetent. Maybe they just truly don’t know what their boss is doing or hiding. Whenever I can finally release Stride; you’ll see this example in the first bit of the story. Dave doesn’t have his prophet tagging along (she comes soon enough) so he doesn’t really know where the villain is. Intel is low in this particular case until later…

Supernatural Bad-Ass Who Won’t Die: Jason is the perfect example. Behind the mask is a mute. You never hear him coming. I’m sure you could smell him; because you know, death and water don’t mix. Well they do; but you get the point. Silent killers never expose their plans. Jason can never be figured out. Little virgin girl gets it (in understanding, not with an ax in the gutters, jeez.) Little virgin girl is always the hero anyway.

However Jason sort of cheats by the simple fact that he teleports; one moment he’s there and the next he’s somewhere else. Creep. Oh, Michael Myers! I can’t believe I forgot about him! He fits in with all of these silent types too.

Last night I wrote with a fury. I was reading reviews for a movie I wanted to see. Drive, with Ryan Gosling; I'm sure you've heard of it by now. The heroism and escapism through highly realistic gore was just too epic for me to ignore. I had to study this silent hero. And then I finally did it. I began to tell the story of Dave.

For two and a half hours from the beginning of midnight I wrote and studied the original hero archetype. This world is fucked and corrupt, everyone knows that. We need a hero. We need someone to look up to. Not a deity particularly but just someone we know is going to be there.

I am on the verge of writing an escapist hero. He is violent. He is vulgar. He is the inner human who wants to get out of all of us. To release that rage we feel at corruption but are far too scared of the consequences. He gives to charity and even helps out the local community he happens to wander around in.

Figure this with normal clothes and more firepower.

I must leave you great folks for now. Snippets of the story will be released to tease you. We may need heroes but I can pretty evil at times. Oh actually there are two quotes about heroes.

Some people just simply don't need to mingle with society in any way, shape, or form. Occasionally though, these types are the heroes. Most often, as with any contradiction; they are just simply evil. I have both types running through my series. Here's one of the characters you'll see as "bad" at most and good. Look, you just won't really want to meet him on the street.

Dave Kaczmarczyk: A former special ops soldier; known for his demolitions and guerrilla warfare expertise. Due to a severe injury he was disbanded. Of course it doesn't stop him folks! Now he is a private mercenary- hard price for men and lenient with women. He gives to charity every once in a while too. Sounds like a nice guy right?

So what's wrong with him? He's a sociopath to the extremities. Road rage. Carries weapons everywhere. Talks to Death and Morrigan while no one else can see them.

Now for the last two creepy people on here. Death and Morrigan. With these two hotheads around, there is violence everywhere in Dave's world. Let's learn about them.

Death: Yes, the Grim Reaper. Although instead of a cloak he wears a jogging suit. He absolutely and vocally hates his job. To pose even more rebellion; Death drinks on the job! Via fruity cocktail drinks in a hollowed coconut- with a bendy straw and umbrella for flashiness.

One of the reasons he hangs out with Dave all the time is- he's obsessed with Death. And Dave comes up with some creative ways. Also, he thinks Dave is such a bad ass that he gave the man.... I'm not going to spoil it.

Morrigan: Irish goddess of war, prophecy, and fertility. She appears, with Death, in my next story. Seen more as a protector of Dave- she gives him hints and emotional support through ordeals in his life. Now, she is an erotic figure of the look-but-don't-touch variety when it comes to Death. Her outfits are seen as modern and revealing to a point.

Her constant bickering with the skeletal figure irritates Dave to points of madness. Dave doesn't know if either of them actually exists, but weird things do happen. Morrigan is a prominent figure because she's been watching over Dave since his childhood- and to his death.

I wanted to explain just a little about the story Cursed Lamentations. My writing was still a bit immature at that point. I admit this with no shame. This is part of my journey. A love for horror movies is what brought it out. Now though, I realized those movies were never actually frightening.

Was it my fanaticism with werewolves that started it? Maybe. I was tired of seeing the likes of cute and oh-so-falsely-menacing beasts. Werewolves to me, at that time of writing, were not very nice. Although they could be redeemable. Research into the infamous Peter Stubbe, proved for an interesting character.

A serial killer accused of being a werewolf? How is that not a highly intriguing concept? Yes he was real. Around the year 500 AD, in present day Germany. Was he a werewolf? Of course not, they do not exist. More research allowed me to take a twist to his death.

What if he never died? See in my mind, werewolves are intolerably hard to kill. Agreeable yes? Well, how about the aid of a demon, that would work out. Immortality is a subject many like to touch up on. With all of these biological, technological, and medicinal breakthroughs; humans are living longer lives.

Case in real point, this story is a response to our drive for immortality. If you haven't read the story- here is a spoiler. Peter gave up his ever lasting soul for vengeance against his killers. More in the aforementioned story in a few years. So what are we, as humans, willing to risk for immortality?

Eternal damnation, psychological imprisonment of oneself, or even chronic pain? Soon enough we'll find out. I personally, don't want to be immortal because of the concept of losing family and friends who are still mortal. I don't want to roam the streets forever lonely, or watch the earth die.

Cursed Lamentations was an experimental piece, not meant for publications. Same goes for Last Action Wizard. As an author I know a few faults will rise, I'm prepared to barrel right through them.